While most of his teammates did an off-ice workout at the club’s hotel Thursday, the Senators’ captain was on the ice with Jared Cowen, Eric Gryba, Matt Kassian and Robin Lehner at a suburban arena.

After sitting out the club’s 4-3 OT loss to the Los Angeles Kings Wednesday night because of a nagging groin injury, the Senators want to get back to 100%, Spezza is pushing hard to return Saturday against the Sharks.

The idea of giving him the game off was to make sure he can play against the Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks Sunday in back-to-back games. The Senators would certainly welcome him back with open arms.